AMD posts third quarter loss, but moving in right direction
AMD reported a smaller-than-expected loss and said it saw growth in unit shipments for its microprocessors and graphics chips.
The company, which had a tough act to follow given Intel's blowout third quarter, reported a net loss of $128 million, or 18 cents a share, on revenue of $1.4 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30 (statement). The quarter was helped by a net gain of $54 million, or 8 cents a share, due to the repurchase of debt. AMD's operating loss was $77 million. Wall Street was expecting a loss of 42 cents a share on revenue of $1.26 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
As for the outlook, AMD said fourth quarter would be "up modestly."
Simply put, AMD is moving in the right direction. Third quarter revenue was up 18 percent from the second quarter, but still down 22 percent from a year ago. Meanwhile, AMD said that its "product company," the marketing and design arm, had non-GAAP net income of $2 million. AMD completed the spin-off of its manufacturing unit in March.
AMD said average selling prices improved as did shipments. In addition, AMD said that third quarter gross margins improved to 42 percent, up from 37 percent in the second quarter.
